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Browsing hasn't replaced grazing in bucolic west Marin, but looking at the work of local artists is an added attraction on a visit to nearby Point Reyes National Seashore. It's prudent to call ahead to confirm hours and days galleries are open.

Gallery Route 1 is a collective with more than 20 members. The exhibits of painting, photography, and sculpture change monthly, with an opening reception the first Sunday afternoon of each month. Artists work in a wide range of media, including hand-cast paper, monoprints, and three-dimensional textiles. The gallery keeps a catalog with professional histories and examples of their work. If you see something that interests you, make an appointment to visit the artist's studio or meet the artist at the gallery.

Paintings can be rented by the month.

The gallery is open from 11 to 5 Fridays through Mondays; call (415) 663-1347.

Beverly Toyu Life Masks is a working studio and gallery in one. Toyu produces handsome pottery, but she is best known for her "life masks.' The walls and shelves are covered with serenely gazing faces, made from porcelain or clay and painted with vibrant glazes.

You might get a chance to watch a mask being made; or you can be part of the process by having your own face cast ($200). Studio hours are noon to 5 Thursdays through Sundays. For appointments other times, call 663-1417.

Black Mountain Weavers is another collective. Fourteen local textile artists share this space, which displays beautifully crafted handwoven clothing, rugs, and accessories and colorful dolls that double as purses. There is always at least one artist present. The gallery is open from 11 to 5 Wednesdays through Sundays; call 663-9130.

Just a few blocks down the street from the Creamery Building are two galleries in private homes (follow State Highweay 1 for one block--it becomes Third Street).

Jeri Quinn has converted part of an old bakery next door to her house at 175 Third Street into a painting studio. Visitors are always welcome, but you're asked to call 663-1770 to make an appointment.

Quinn, formerly an illustrator in New York, paints impressionistic landscapes as well as vivid, colorful wildflowers. She sometimes accompanies her husband, a painter and author, on dog-training excursions with their black labradors, capturing in paint the first flurry of birds in the grass.

The Borge Point Reyes Gallery is just around the corner, at 221 B Street. Painters Martha and Ralph Borge use part of their old colonial revival home as a gallery to display their work.

Ralph Borge is an instructor at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. His surrealistic paintings are brooding and interspective, but compassionate. He often presents his subject from an unusual perspective, further engaging the observer's eyes and thought.

Martha Borge's paintings are impressionistic and romantic. Her landscapes include pensive, almost human-looking cows, painted in the filtered light of morning or evening.

If the weather is nice, ask to see their garden, which has an intriguing mix of old holly, quince, maple, crabapple, poplar, and pine trees.

The gallery is open from 11 to 5 Sundays or by appointment; call 663-1419.

Getting there. From San Francisco, take . 101 north 11 miles, exit west on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at Greenbrae, and continue to Olema; then take State Highway 1 northwest to Point Reyes Station. Or from . 101 north of San Rafael, take Lucas Valley Road west past Nicasio, then go west (left) 6 miles on Point Reyes-Pletaluma Road and turn left again on State 1. (Southerbound on . 101 from Petaluma, take Point Reyes-Petaluma Road all the way.) There is parking behind the Creamery Building.

Photo: Track lighting helps turn-of-the-century home of artists Martha and Ralph Borge double as gallery space. Come on Sundays or by appointment

Photo: A slathering of plaster of Paris creates mold for final mask; petroleum jelly keeps it from sticking. The worst part is breathing through straws

Photo: Dark handwoven jacket for special occasions wins approving nod, even worn with her everyday jeans, at Black Mountain Weavers collective